SEC Tip Line Was Meant to Stop Another Madoff. Is It Working?
The headquarters building of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Zach Gibson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
An SEC whistleblower program designed to prevent another Bernie Madoff-type scandal often ignores its own rules, shields much of its work from the public, and has been a financial boon for law firms that hired former agency officials, a Bloomberg Law investigation has found.
Written into the Dodd-Frank financial reform law of 2010 and championed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), it was created to make sure tips about financial wrongdoing aren’t ignored as they were before Madoff’s $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme.